Nicholas Delear Jr, of Sussex, met later that night with an undercover police officer but fled when he became suspicious. Police soon stopped his vehicle, but the 33-year-old Delear refused to consent to his vehicle being searched.

Authorities obtained a warrant after a police dog detected drugs in the vehicle. They found four plastic bags containing marijuana and other paraphernalia.

Skulls find

ENGLAND: Around 20 Roman skulls have been unearthed in an “unexpected and fascinating discovery” during work on the £14.8bn (€17.7bn) Crossrail project.

The cross-London scheme has led to a number of exciting discoveries with the latest coming while workers were building a utility tunnel at the Liverpool St station site.

Working under the direction of Crossrail’s archaeologists, the construction workers carefully removed the human skulls and Roman pottery, found in the sediment of the historic channel of the River Walbrook. The skulls were found below the Bedlam burial ground established in the 16th century.

Rat hunt off to a flier

USA: Without money to bring back its rat-control programme, the health department for Ohio’s capital city plans to map complaints and spread fliers educating residents about dealing with the rodents.

The Columbus Dispatch (http://bit.ly/16Qdf6o) reports the city’s service line has received over 200 rat complaints involving rental properties this year, almost reaching the total for last year. Columbus also started logging complaints from non-rental properties, with more than a dozen reports since August.

Some people hope Columbus Public Health resurrects a rat-control pilot programme but the 2014 budget doesn’t include money for that.

Virginia Tomolillo has trapped 22 rats in her yard this year. She blames a neighbour who puts dog food outdoors, and says education might help.

‘A bit Elton’

ENGLAND: Boris Johnson made a spectacle of himself as he gave a public debut to his Elton John-style glasses.

The London mayor reluctantly put on the glasses after admitting it was a “point of machismo” to avoid wearing them.

He added that one of his aides disapproved of his choice because they looked like the glasses worn by ‘Candle In The Wind’ singer Elton. Asked to put them on during an appearance on LBC 97.3 Mr Johnson said: “I don’t need them right now.”